3 McIntosh County school officials indicted in case where teacher had sex with 3 students

Superintendent also charged with halting school police officer's investigation

DARIEN | A McIntosh County grand jury has indicted the county school superintendent, one of her assistants and the McIntosh Academy high school principal on misdemeanor charges of failure to report child abuse.

The indictments returned late Tuesday in open court also charge Superintendent Tina Kirby with obstructing an officer and McIntosh Academy Principal Terrance Haywood with making a false statement to a Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agent, the only felony among the charges. Assistant Superintendent Larry Day is charged only with failure to report child abuse.

The charges arose from the March arrest of former McIntosh Academy math teacher Lori Carmichael Quigley, 41, on three counts of sexual assault on a person under supervision or discipline. Quigley is accused of having sex with three male students, all older than 16, twice on school property and once in a car in a Waffle House parking lot beside Interstate 95.

After arresting Quigley, the McIntosh County Sheriff’s Office asked the GBI to investigate school officials’ conduct in the investigation. After completing its investigation, the GBI obtained warrants for Kirby, Day and Haywood and arrested them in mid April.

The indictment says that between Sept. 25 and March 7, all three school officials “knowingly and willfully” failed to inform law enforcement officers of allegations of child abuse by Quigley.

The indictment says that between Nov. 1 and Feb. 27, Kirby obstructed school police officer Daniel Lodise from carrying out his official duties by preventing him from investigating the allegations against Quigley.

The indictment accuses Haywood of making a false statement on March 20 to GBI Special Agent Lindsay P. Smith as she investigated whether he had known of the allegations against Quigley and failed to report them.

Haywood knew of the allegations against Quigley before the Sheriff’s Office began investigating on March 7, but he told Smith he had not known until that date, the indictment says.

Kirby’s lawyer was in court Wednesday morning and could not be reached for comment.

School board Chairman Bonnie Caldwell had sought to suspend Kirby but the other school board members declined to second her motion.